George John Dufek (February 10, 1903 – February 10, 1977) was an American naval

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

, naval aviator, and polar expert. He served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

and in the 1940s and 1950s spent much of his career in the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

, first with Admiral Byrd and later as supervisor of U.S. programs in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Polar region The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are Earth's polar ice caps, the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitu ...

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Dufek was the director of the Mariners' Museum in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

after his retirement from the Navy in 1959.

Background and military career

Born in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

, he joined the

Reserve Officer Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

(ROTC) at his local high school and was appointed to the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

in Annapolis, Maryland in 1921. Upon graduation in 1925 he received his ensign's commission and commenced his career aboard the battleship . He was later assigned to the submarine USS ''S-39'' and was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) in 1928. In 1932 he entered flight training school at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida; after graduating as a naval aviator in 1933 he served as navigator and

executive officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

on three different ships. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1935 and assigned to the aircraft carrier USS ''Saratoga'' in 1938. During

Dufek commanded a flight training squadron, served as senior naval aviator in Algeria during the invasion of North Africa, assisted in the planning for the invasion of Sicily and Salerno and, after his promotion to captain and subsequent reassignment, the invasion of southern France. In September 1944 he assumed command of the

escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraf ...

, which, on 24 April 1945, along with its escorts, sank the ''U-546'', the last of 13 submarines (11 German and 2 Japanese) sunk by ''Bogue'' during World War II. During the

the Navy placed Dufek in command of the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

from 17 January 1951 – 6 May 1952. ''Antietam'' operated off the coast of the Korean peninsula from October 1951 to April 1952 and received four battle stars. Dufek was then given command of the naval installation on Kwajalein in the Pacific and, finally, the

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, Washington, Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington (state), Washington. The main ...

in Oak Harbor, Washington. Dufek retired from the Navy on 30 June 1955 and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in recognition of his wartime accomplishments the same day. He continued to serve on active duty so he could participate in

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze is the code name for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There was an init ...

Antarctic experience

With Richard Byrd

In the spring of 1939, Dufek, at this time a lieutenant, requested and received an assignment to Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd's third expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, which was officially named the

United States Antarctic Service Expedition The United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939–1941), often referred to as Byrd's Third Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition jointly sponsored by the United States Navy, United States Department of State, State Department, United St ...

, where he served as navigator of the , the flagship of the expedition. In recognition of his many hours of exploratory flying over the South Polar continent, Dufek later received the United States Antarctic Expedition Medal.

Operation Highjump

After a brief postwar stint in Japan, Dufek was assigned as chief staff officer to a U.S. Navy-

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

task force to establish weather bases in the polar regions. While there he participated in

Operation Highjump Operation HIGHJUMP, officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946–1947, (also called Task Force 68), was a United States Navy (USN) operation to establish the Antarctic research base Little America (exploration b ...

, a Naval expedition to Antarctica under the command of Byrd. He served as commander of the Eastern Group (Task Group 68.3) which consisted of a seaplane tender, a destroyer and a tanker. During Operation Highjump he made the first flight over the Thurston Peninsula and later led the rescue of six survivors of a crash of another flight (named ''George 1'') over the same area. He returned to Washington D.C. briefly, but by 1947 was back in the Antarctic, this time commanding a task force sent to supply existing weather stations and to establish new ones near the pole.

Operation Deepfreeze

In 1954 Dufek joined a special Antarctic planning group preparing for the Navy's

, a scientific polar research expedition. When planning was complete Dufek was given command of Task Force 43 which, with more than 80 officers and 1000 enlisted men, three ice-breakers, and three

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

s, was charged with

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

and support for the expedition. Dufek's first flagship for the operation was the attack cargo ship USS ''Arneb''. He later transferred his flag to the icebreaker USS ''Glacier'' and was on board the ''Glacier'' when she completed a circumnavigation of the Antarctic continent later in the expedition. Among other accomplishments, the task force established bases on

Ross Island Ross Island is an island in Antarctica lying on the east side of McMurdo Sound and extending from Cape Bird in the north to Cape Armitage in the south, and a similar distance from Cape Royds in the west to Cape Crozier in the east. The isl ...

and in Little America, and on October 31, 1956, (Reference: ''Aviation Year by Year,'' Bill Gunston, ed. London: Amber Books Limited, 2001.

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

editions: , .) Admiral Dufek and a crew of six, having flown on a ski equipped

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

R4D-5 Skytrain named ''Que Sera Sera'', became the first Americans to set foot at the South Pole and to plant the American flag, and the first men to land on the pole from the air. On November 28, 1957, Dufek was present with a US congressional delegation during a change of command ceremony held at McMurdo Sound. After Admiral Byrd's death, Dufek was appointed to succeed him as supervisor of U.S. programs in the South Polar Regions.

Retirement and death

Dufek fully retired from the Navy in 1959. He died in 1977, on his 74th birthday.

Namesakes

Antarctic features Dufek Coast, Dufek Head, Dufek Massif, and Dufek Mountain were named in his honor.

Awards

Additional Awards and Honors

* Golden Plate Award,

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

, 1961

Dates of rank

*Midshipman – August 1921 *Ensign – June 1925 *Lieutenant (junior grade) – June 1928 *Lieutenant – June 1935 *Lieutenant Commander – August 1939 *Commander – August 1942 *Captain – July 1943 *Rear Admiral, Retired – June 1955

Bibliography

* 1957: ''Operation Deepfreeze.''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Harcourt, Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...

. . * 1959: ''Through the Frozen Frontier: The Exploration of Antarctica.'' Harcourt, Brace. . * 1969: ''Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd: A Biography.'' Harcourt, Brace and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William & Mary.

References

External links

*
George J. Dufek Papers
at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Library Special Collections Research Center
Guardian angel to the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufek, George J. 1903 births 1977 deaths People from Rockford, Illinois United States Naval Academy alumni United States Naval Aviators United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy personnel of the Korean War Aviators from Illinois 20th-century American explorers American explorers of Antarctica United States Navy rear admirals Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Knights of the Legion of Honour American recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Military personnel from Illinois South Pole